Rookie Adam Randall Fits As "The Joker" In Declan Doyle's Ravens Offense. Doyle's Mentor, Sean Payton, Wanted Him

The intrigue around the Ravens 2026 offense is as high as it’s ever been.

We’ve seen regime changes on the offensive staff before, and new play callers before, of course, and this will be Lamar Jackson’s third offensive coordinator. But never before has someone taken the reigns of this offense nearly this young, as this much of a blank slate. Declan Doyle just turned 30, has never called a play before and is installing his own offense and playbook for the first time.

And he is going to be borrowing, heavily, from his long-time mentor, Sean Payton, who he spent most of his professional life as an assistant too and watched do the very job he now being charged to do with two different organizations (New Orleans and Denver). One of the unique aspects of Payton’s offense is the role of a hybrid “joker” offensive player, as Payton described it to me on “The Daily Flock Show,” it’s usually a TE/RB/FB with exceptional hands who can line in amid big personnel in the backfield and win in the passing game as a top route runner and pass-catcher and hold up physically and is smart enough to grasp the offensive from multiple positions.

Payton has used players as varied as Jeremy Shockey and Reggie Bush and Darren Sproles and Taysom Hill in this role over the years. It's a vital element to his offense.

We’ve been mulling over those sort of options on the Ravens roster for quite some time, among the many changes that Payton agrees are coming to Baltimore – like more tempo and pace – and more formations run under center and not in the pistol or shotgun. We believed that fifth-round pick Adam Randall (with a unique stock at 6-3, 232 pounds), most famously the selection credited to owner Steve Bisciotti, had the potential to full that role this season, as a rookie as a former high-school quarterback and receiver at Clemson and, for one season, a running back at Clemson.

And wouldn’t you know it, Payton visibly lit up when asked if Randall appeared, to him, to be an ideal candidate to be a joker in his offense.

“He’s a joker, yeah,” Payton said before I could finish getting the question out. “Listen, I love that you brought him up.”

Why Is Randall Worthy Of A Long Look?

Payton explained the difficulties of evaluating Randall given his varying roles and his selflessness doing anything a program in decline at Clemson asked of him. So the Broncos – who played in the AFC title game with Payton in his third year there looking for pieces to put the offense over the top - invested significant time on this prospect.

They had a private workout with Randall, and then, wanting to explore the full panorama of his joker possibilities, flew their tight end coach across the country to get a handle on if he could handle some of those “F responsibilities” of a fullback or blocking tight end.

They filmed that workout and watched it back in Denver as an entire staff. Suffice to say, they were impressed.

“We ran him through certain running back drills and then we put him in space and we put him in tight end drills and F drills,” Payton explained. “I think his superpower is his receiving ability. So I would say, um, I don’t know what they’re going to list him as (on the roster in terms of playing position) and I wouldn’t be concerned with that, alright …

“With Randall, you’re going to see a player that receives the ball extremely well. We didn’t have the vision of handing the ball off to him 25 or 30 times, but we had the vision of this guy definitely being more in that F mode. If you just watched his greatest hits as a receiver, those were impressive. And then the move to halfback was really based on what they needed and he obviously did a great job with that.

“But I’m glad you brought him up, because he was a little pet cat for us during the draft, particularly for me … So we had a vision for him as well. I wasn’t surprised at all to see that selection. I was kind of happy for Declan and Baltimore.”

I’m fired up to see this kid. Yes, he’s a raw rookie and this is a raw coaching staff on the offensive side of the ball. And there will need to be adjustments and a learning curve. But the mystery of who fits best as the “The Joker” in Baltimore’s offense might not be much of a riddle any longer.

Subscribe On YouTube For The best Ravens Coverage:

Add us as a preferred source on Google